Trump cuts could hurt kids
Among the flurry of chaotic and ill-conceived executive orders Trump is now issuing, seemingly without thought to the consequences, except to further his own authoritarian agenda, is a cut in spending for federal programs benefitting young children.
Our own son at age 4 got a big boost in life by participating in one of these threatened programs, Head Start. He is now a Ph.D. cancer researcher. Trump helped engineer the demise of Roe v. Wade that protected women from government intervention regarding their reproductive rights. If the government is complicit in forcing American women to have unwanted children, it should help nourish and educate those children, to make America stay great.
Richard Shafer
Pullman
Justice carried
The Idaho Statesman recently reported that an “Idaho GOP lawmaker wants women charged with murder for seeking abortions, end to exceptions” [of rape and incest] (Ian Max Stevenson, Feb 7, 2025).
What is Idaho coming to when a state senator deems it lawful to craft a bill that “could make women seeking abortions vulnerable to capital punishment”? (Misti DelliCarpini-Tolman, director of Planned Parenthood) If the bill had passed, women could have been incarcerated for life or executed by firing squad. Yes, you read that right.
Thankfully, Senate Republican leaders did not advance the bill. But the fact that such a heinous bill could even be written, much less presented, is truly galling. Why remove the exceptions of rape or incest from the already draconian Idaho abortion ban? Why withhold aid or mercy for the life-threatening complications of pregnancy? Or for miscarriage misconstrued as abortion?
Losing a pregnancy in any manner and for any reason can be hurtful, even if it’s an unplanned pregnancy. Take it from women who know.
Why does this GOP lawmaker need to control women in this way? Is it fear of women’s power to nourish life? Or, to expel it.
Nevertheless, I do not want to believe that Sen. Brandon Shippy, R-New Plymouth, could sentence his own wife, or any woman, to life in prison or execution by firing squad, for losing a pregnancy, or for any reason. Are not women’s own lives more precious than gold to their living children?
Let Sen. Shippy imagine that before he next puts pen to paper.
Lisa Kliger
Moscow
Congress must stop Musk
Dale (Courtney), you certainly went off the deep end on your latest tirade against USAID. (Daily News, Feb. 13) You said Musk exposed many abuses in it. It took me a while to find your source, but I see it came from a MAGA congressman, Brian Mast, the chairperson of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the House of Representatives. Other than the claim of $4.6 billion going to Catholic Relief Services, the total of the other programs you list amounts to less than 10% of the $40 billion the USAID administered.
While you decry these programs, I happen to think many of them are commendable, and I would need more specific information on the others before I would pass judgment. Catholic Relief Services is not a money laundering organization as Musk would want you to believe. The stated purpose of CRS is to work with organizations around the world to help poor and vulnerable people overcome emergencies, earn a living through agriculture and access affordable health care. Often times NGOs like CRS can extend the reach of our foreign aid where we have no government offices.
One of the largest programs of USAID is to provide emergency food assistance to places of need. I find it horrendous for the world’s richest man can cut off Ready to Use Therapeutic Food Packets used to keep starving children from dying from malnutrition. A word about the food USAID delivers. It is bought from American farmers. It helps keep our commodity prices stable while feeding the world. While Secretary Marco Rubio has ordered these programs to continue, reports from around the world say that American food continues to rot in warehouses. All because of your false savior, Elon Musk. You really need to do your homework, Dale.
Wayne Beebe
Pullman
How have you been affected?
For an upcoming column in this paper, I would like to assemble stories from the local community about the real-world impacts of the current administration’s policies.
If you have been personally affected (e.g., lost job, lost benefits, damaged relationships, changes to how you do your job), and are willing to share, please email me at ryanthomasurie@gmail.com. All identifying information will be anonymized, and emails will be permanently deleted after publication. Thank you!
Ryan Urie
Moscow
A lesson from ‘The Serviceberry’
Robin Wall Kimmerer’s new book is entitled “The Serviceberry.” These are tall bushes or small trees that are some of the first to bloom in the spring. One can see their white flowers dotting the Clearwater canyon walls in April, and they then are one of the first to produce edible berries in June.
The book contrasts the economic system of our country to that of the serviceberry. Our economic system is one based on scarcity. Scarcity translates to economic value for products made from privatized natural resources. Think of bottled water. Our system pollutes the free water available to us, privatizes sources of pure water such as springs, then allows private corporations to bottle that water and sell it back to us (don’t buy bottled water!). The system allows for a very few to concentrate enormous wealth — it creates a billionaire class.
In contrast is the Serviceberry “gift” economy of abundance, where in April the serviceberry provides abundant flowers and nectar for pollinators, which in turn pollinate the bushes’ flowers, and in June the serviceberry produces a bounty of berries which are eaten by birds. All for free. The birds in turn scatter the seeds and allow for new serviceberry bushes to grow. The bush could be greedy, concentrate all of the energy it harvests from the sun in woody capital, and produce no flowers or berries. This of course would not be in the bushes’ long term self-interest since they would eventually cease to exist. Also the world would be much poorer without the pollinators and song birds.
Our capitalist system is nearing its culmination with billionaires now in full control of our government (14 and counting). They are eviscerating any features which may benefit the many (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Head Start, etc.) and supercharging features which benefit the billionaire class (tax cuts, military contracts, liquidation of natural resources, etc.). As with the example of the hypothetical, selfish serviceberry, such a system cannot persist. As the current system fails, our best bet is to steer things more toward a serviceberry gift economy of abundance.
Al Poplawsky
Moscow
Trust the real scientists
We have all heard the one-liner, “I am not a doctor, but I play one on TV.” The last years, we have been deluged with controversy related to vaccinations and anti-viral treatments. Now we have a cabinet member in charge of our health who is in the “played one on TV” category.
Not many of us have had a course covering human antibody production (immunology), many are unable to access college, and others do not trust the media. We, living in a community possessing two major universities, are blessed with real scientists working diligently on improving/protecting our health. Your paper just reported “U of I now considered a top research institution.” The WSU scientists at the Animal Disease Diagnostic lab and the Allen School for Global Health were recently written up in the Spring 25 issue of the Washington State magazine. This article presents clear views on COVID-19, coronaviruses, Ebola virus, other animal/human viruses, sources, potential pandemics and relates new information on virus sequences. I also encourage these scientists that are in the know to enter into some of those writing letters when some misconceptions are obvious.
Lee Hadwiger
Pullman
Good advice from Broadman
Responding to: Commentary by Todd J. Broadman “OPINION: The cancer club is admitting younger members” (Daily News, Feb. 20).
At last assessment, I found myself doing at least 100 things a day that have evidence that they move me away from developing cancer. I do such things as send good intentions to others to help deal with afflictive emotions, stay away from agrichemicals and other toxins as best I can, practice mindful eating and supplementation to maintain nutrient sufficiency, get my steps in as part of our P&R “Walk/Run Marathon,” and practice a bit of Wim Hoff’s “Fast Five Diet” hoping to induce some ketosis along with the cellular clean-out of autophagy. I have come to believe that Todd J. Broadman does well to encourage us to change our lifestyle to obtain and maintain good health.
Tod Merley
Pullman
